Amazon is looking to bring the VR experience to video

It would appear based upon a genuine job post on Glassdoor that web retail behemoth Amazon is looking into establishing a new virtual reality team. The advert is looking for a senior software development manager to head up this new Virtual Reality team.

It appears based on the job posting that Amazon wishes to hire this senior development manager in order to "build the VR experience in Amazon Video”.

"The VR team will explore and create the platform and interface for immersive storytelling, This will include an ingestion and playback platform for Virtual Reality experiences.” the job posting states.

That suggests something more ambitious that adding VR to its video catalogue. Another interesting part of the post is: “future will not be limited to passive 2D experiences”, which suggests that Amazon is investigating interactive 3D videos and experiences and that Amazon wants to create video content that goes beyond the 2D videos provided by Amazon and its video rival Netflix.

The qualifications and experience required by the applicants - who will need 15 years of engineering experience, a degree in Computer Science and the experience of handling and working with distributed, enterprise-wide systems - also point towards a more innovative pioneering role.

Amazon Video wouldn’t be the first streaming service to embrace VR. Its main rival Netflix has already launched an app for Samsung’s Gear VR headset, and another competitor Hulu is looking to launch an app for VR headsets in the near future as well.